Mary Cain (editor)

Life

Cain was born in Burke, Louisiana, the daughter of Charles Goodrich Dawson and Tulula Bryant Dela Garza Dawson. She was educated in public schools in Louisiana and Mississippi, and graduated from Hillman College. She married mechanic and business owner John Lambdin Cain in 1924. She was featured in an NBC documentary about race relations in Mississippi, Mississippi: A Self-Portrait, in which she passionately asserted she would not be anything but "white".

Cain owned and edited The Summit Sun, a weekly newspaper in Pike County, Mississippi, contributing "Mary Cain's Column". Cain used her paper to promote segregation and conservative causes, and was particularly critical of the federal government, especially the Social Security tax.

Cain became the first woman ever to run for Governor of Mississippi in 1951, when she led an unsuccessful but memorable campaign as a Democrat. She ran again in 1955.

Cain came to national attention in 1952 when she refused to pay $42.87 in Social Security taxes, calling the program "unconstitutional, immoral and un-American". She attempted to dodge the Internal Revenue Service by selling The Summit Sun to her niece for a nominal sum of $1 and closing her bank accounts. Later that year the IRS seized the paper and padlocked the door; Cain responded by cutting the chains with a hacksaw and sending them back to the agency, earning herself the nickname "Hacksaw Mary". Her tax battle went to the Supreme Court; Cain lost, but the government subsequently dropped the suit.

Cain died on May 6, 1984 at the age of 79 in McComb, Mississippi.